S.C: Good evening Gadies and Lentlemen, we’ve got a friend of the show returning to us once more as the 81st season comes to a close but more on that in a little bit. We’ve already seen many a great playoff moments happen as they continue to roll on, along with some huge upsets in the very first round as it saw the fifteenth ranked Detroit Falcons fly in and topple the fifth ranked Maine Timber in six games. Unfortunately that dream came to an end in the second round where Detroit fell to the Carolina Kraken. The second upset came from a team we’ve kept an eye on from one of their rookies making appearances here on the show. That would be St. Louis. They closed out the regular season in a measly fourteenth place out of sixteen. In the first round of the playoffs they scared off the sixth ranked Ottawa Highlanders in six games. They then followed that up by sneaking past the eighth ranked San Diego Tidal in the second round to advance to the Conference finals which took up all seven games of the series. Then came along a buzz saw, Carolina. The Scarecrows got dismantled in just about every game, only game three was close. A complete sweep to end the Cinderella story happening in St. Louis. If you haven’t guessed it by now, today’s guest is once again Toivo Jokinen! We’ve had him on prior to the season, and again after the first quarter of regular season games. After a very hectic first few weeks in the league which saw his dreams of getting drafted to the league come true, move across the globe, changed positions among the forward core, and was named an alternate captain of the squad. First and foremost, thank you for coming on Toivo. I know emotions must be running high following the playoff loss. Really appreciate you coming on here all these times. Let’s get right into the questions, but start with a bit of an ice breaker. You’ve been in St. Louis for a little while now, where’s the favorite spot to grab a bite?

T.J: First off, thank you for having me back. Absolute blast the last two times, why not complete the trifecta. As for favorite spots… hard to say. Everything’s so diverse here so there’s a place for everything. If you are looking for Italian, Mama’s on the Hill has to be the go to. However, barbecue is huge around here and Pappy’s Smokehouse was phenomenal. Handful of us rookies went there after the preseason wrapped up and I’ve been wanting to go back since. Much different barbecue style than back home. 

S.C: I’ll take your word for it, both places sound amazing and I’ll have to get them when I’m in town. Was looking forward to seeing you guys compete for the cup, and woulda’ come in for that.. but more on that later. Let’s rewind and pick up where we left off last time. Had just completed your first sixteen games in the J’s; now you’ve had sixty six plus seventeen playoff games. Looking at just those regular season games, overall as a team it wasn’t the kind of statistical season anyone wants but it was sort of expected. Was the feeling in the locker room consistent with the media's perspective?

T.J: What’s the media's perspective? That we’d get trashed every game with nine rookies? Listen, it’s all just noise. They can say what they want about anything. You could walk on water, and they’ll criticize your swimming ability. We had our goals, and expectations within the locker room. While nothing too grand, we knew night in and night out we had a chance to compete. Didn’t matter who, where, or when.. we had a chance. Obviously, the standings say what they will but it wasn't a lack of effort. We’ve got a hungry young core, have to start somewhere and you can bet next year it’ll be better. Once we hit the playoffs, that was all house money and we showed up. 

S.C: Easy, now. Back it up, back to the regular season. We’ll get to the playoffs here soon. The team finished with twenty two wins, forty one losses, and three overtime losses which was good for a fourteenth place finish with forty seven points. While only slightly, that’s a higher finish than the season before with forty one points. What would you say is the biggest take away from this season for the young locker room?

T.J: Resiliency and desire. Once all of the rookies arrived in St. Louis some ground goals were set. First step was accomplished. Bring the team closer together, and build that line chemistry for future seasons. Anyone can get along with anyone off the ice, but in this game knowing who you’re lined up with can make or break the game. Secondly, as a group we just wanted to see improvement over the last season of Scarecrows. Not many of us were around for that, however we knew the organization and fans deserved better. Barely snuck that one in at the end of the season, but we still did it. Won a couple more games than last season and put up six more points in the standings. 

S.C: Snuck that goal in there right in the last bit of the season. Now, you as an individual had some ups and downs throughout the season. Had some hot streaks, some cold streaks. All culminating on December 4th, which was statistically your best game of the season.  It was a road game against the Kelowna Knights, remember it? You earned first star honors on a two goal and two assist performance. 

T.J: You know what’s funny about that night Scott? It was the first away game my family attended. Don’t know what magic that put in the air, but man did it feel good to put on a show in front of them. They’d seen a handful of home games, but that was the first one away. I remember it well. Whole team was buzzing, which made it easy to rack up points. On my first goal Dave Fournier set me up nicely and the second couldn’t have been scripted better. Seventeen seconds in or something like that to the second period, fantastic pass from our captain Jean Bon. Would be lying if I said I wasn’t hunting for that Hat trick there, but still just as happy we came out with the win for my family. But yeah, the whole team was feeling it. Fournier and Sosa both had three point nights as well. We were riding the high after that one for a few days. 

S.C: I didn’t know your family was in town for that one, hockey gods sprinkled a little luck down on you and the team. If you notice listeners.. I said let’s focus on his individual performances and he started talking about how well his teammates performed. You just can't get him to break and put himself on the pedestal. Anyway, in the regular season you put up a twenty goal, fifteen assist stat line for thirty five points across sixty six games. Doesn’t stand out among the top of your draft class but definitely not horrible for a rookie. When you came on the show for the first time, a self critique of your game was the potency of your shot. Looks like since you’ve scored more goals than you’ve had helpers. Is that you put some focus into that part of the game?

T.J: I wouldn’t say it was my focus, but I did end up working on it a little harder at practice since being moved to center. Just the nature of the game, right in front of the net you’ll be relied on from time to time to put one through. So more of a focus than in the past I suppose, but wasn't my primary goal. Just part of continuing to build my game. The main focus this year was learning how to play center and everything that comes along with that. New positioning, different physical demands, screening, board battles, face offs, you know. Overall, I’d say it was a successful season to grow into the position, it helps that I had a great mentor in Boogan McGillicuddy. He led the team in many categories, and I strive to duplicate that and give him some competition on the stat sheet before he moves up to the big leagues. He’s just been a wagon for us all season long, imagine if the team had two of him.

S.C: Speaking of those faceoffs, if my stat sheet is correct here you were second in rookie faceoffs taken and second in rookie faceoff wins. I’d say that’s impressive for someone who just really started working on them, maybe some of that Boogan magic.  Alrighty, as we’ve alluded to earlier the Scarecrows hit a bit of a hot streak in the playoffs blowing everyone’s perspectives out of the water. You lot along with the Detroit Falcons winning their first series probably broke a lot of prediction brackets. Both first round series lasting six games, Detroit came in as the 15th seed and toppled the fifth ranked Maine Timber. St. Louis came in at the fourteenth ranked team and beat the sixth ranked Ottawa Highlanders in an exciting series. Walk us through the emotions in the locker room, had to be an exciting time. 

T.J: Let’s be honest Scott, anytime you have playoff hockey it’s exciting. Winning makes it more exciting but there’s just a different atmosphere around playoff hockey than the regular season. Coming in off a disappointing regular season as you said, just about everyone had us getting smoked right out of the gates. One head line even said if we win a single game it should be treated like winning the cup. That wasn’t our mind set. We knew we had potential, and our coaches put us in the best possible position every game to know we had a fighting chance and we showed that right out of the gate. Game one was an absolute shootout, with a total of thirteen goals between the two squads. Thankfully eight of those were ours and we came away with the win. Game two they made some great adjustments both on offense and defense and locked us up for a five nothing defeat. Props to them, there was nothing we could get going however we came away with a crucial road win with that first game. Back home on our rink in St. Louis we exchanged five to three wins. Tied series, at this point anything was possible and the locker room was on fire. Game five on the road was a dog fight with a two to one outcome. Teemu locked up the net for us with thirty three saves, really he was on fire the whole playoffs for us until we all crumbled in front of him against Carolina. Then came game six, our overtime victory to send us through to the second round. Couldn’t have scripted that one any better, down by one with two minutes left in the third, Caufield bangs one in to tie it up five five. Then right off the rip in over time, I find my boy Swiffer and he lets off a beautiful shot for the winner. I can’t describe how that felt, nor the atmosphere in the locker room afterwards.

S.C: I’d believe it’s hard to describe those feelings. As a team that was counted out all season long to put up that kind of performance right off the bat in the playoffs? Man. That’s movie stuff right there. Almost get ahead of yourself there mentioning the rest of the playoffs with Teemu’s performances, but I’d agree with you on the point that he was a rock. Stood tall the whole first two series’ before the whole team faltered. How about that second series, against the San Diego Tidal. If I’m reading my notes here correctly it was sort of a battle to decide your team’s first round draft pick, since you own theirs. Just about every game in the series against them could have gone either way, and it ended up taking all seven games to decide a winner by a single point. Walk us through those, and how it felt. 

T.J: We know this was going into the series that it’d be an absolute slugfest. Since they boasted the two highest point scorers of the regular season and the only two with over one hundred points, we had to bring our A game every night. The series started off the same way as the first one, ending up tied with two wins a piece after the double home games. Then back on their home ice for game five, they ended up winning four two and putting them up by one in the series. With one more loss sending us home, we knew we had to step it up. Heading into the third period we were down by one and that continued for most of it, until the final five minutes. Dakota found me, I found Jean Bon, Jean Bon found the back of the net. After that, Teemu just kept doing what he’s been doing all playoffs with his incredible saves until Dakota put one in for the overtime winner. That brought us to an always nerve wracking game seven, win and advance or lose and go home. Playing in San Diego made it tough, their fans are something else and it made the whole thing feel surreal. At this point each team was familiar with each other and it was just an absolute battle. Each team had the same number of shots on goal, just came down to one single save.. or no save.. and luckily for us Teemu made the saves to continue what he’d been doing and push us through. That feeling in the locker room after game seven will be something I hold onto forever. The music, the shouting, the celebration, nothing like it. We held onto that underdog mentality, and it felt like we really had something going.

S.C: It was a well deserved celebration. Coming from fourteenth ranked to gracing the final four is an impressive feat in any sport. One of the team's goals was just getting experience under the belts of the lengthy list of rookies, and it would appear you’ve definitely done that. Besides reaching the finals and hoisting the cup, the St Louis Scarecrows saw just about every scenario there could have been. An overtime in the playoffs, crushing defeat, shocking victories, and feeling the pressure of a playoffs gave seven. All the makings of a Cinderella story for such a ‘low’ team to feel that success. Of course, since we’re talking about the playoffs in the past tense and not celebrating you being a cup champion, the story came to an end. In just four games the Carolina Kraken swept through the Scarecrows and sent you guys home. Obviously the emotions around that are probably still pretty high, but tell us about that series a little bit. What changed between the first two rounds and round three? 

T.J: Well you got one thing right Scott, the emotions are still pretty high. After hearing about how your team should celebrate just one playoff win the same as the team that wins the cup, to shocking the entire world and reaching the final four it does sting with how we went out. Obviously not the way any of us had planned it. To put it simply, they were just better. Obvious thing to say looking at the outcome of every game, but that's what it comes down to. More experienced veteran players knew how to play in that scenario and we didn’t. Teemu was coming in on a hot streak and went flat, but that's not on him at all. All five of us in front of him on every line did not help. Something we’ll learn from, and next time we’re in that position it won’t happen again. In game three we really showed our potential, but then went flat again in game four. We’re hungry to experience those later rounds of the playoffs again, and when we do we’ll be more prepared. Just an absolute horrible feeling to go out the way we did. 

S.C: I know the words of a sports radio show host don’t mean too much, but there is absolutely nothing the St. Louis Scarecrows should feel ashamed about. Of course the losses sting, especially with how they went, but from how the regular season went and how everyone expected the playoffs to go.. The future is looking really bright in St. Louis. Alrighty, moving on. Sorry not sorry, we’ve got a lot to talk about in a short period of time. As the playoffs come to a close the hype of international tournaments begin to ramp up. Playing for your country is always at the top of athletes lists and you get to do it in your first season. As was recently announced, you’ll be playing on the right wing for team Finland in the upcoming WJC tournament. Was this something you expected to happen, how did you react when finding out, and how does it feel knowing you’ve got a fellow Scarecrow on the roster with you?

T.J: Totally understand Scott, can’t be dwelling on the past. Learn from it, move on. Just so happens when one high intensity scenario ends, you’re thrust into another. When I got the call that I was going to be playing for my home country in the WJC I was ecstatic. Getting to put on the crest of your country and battle on the ice to see which country is on top? Doesn’t get much better than that. While I love St. Louis and have had a blast lining up at center, I’m excited to get back to my roots and see how I can help Finland raise the trophy at the end. Any time you can play hockey with someone you know, it's a great feeling. Even better when its our lockdown goalie from the playoffs on the roster with me. I know he might not get as many starts due to being a ‘rookie’, but the familiarity will make everything easier for us in the new setting. Overall, just excited for it to get underway, an idle mind thinking about the playoffs hasn’t done any good so having this to look forward to is nice. 

S.C: Can’t imagine it, donning the crest of your country and going to war essentially. I wish you and Finland the best of luck.. And we may be soon calling it Winland. Could go all day talking with you Toivo, but the producer is giving me the signal to begin wrapping it up, so I’ve only got one or two more questions here for you. Besides the WJC tournament, the big news you’ll have this off season is where you are headed to after the J’s as coming up here soon is the SHL draft. Have any teams started to reach out yet? Do you have anywhere in mind you’d like to go? Are there more nerves coming up for this draft than there was for the previous one into the J’s?

T.J: Winland does indeed have a long history, and I’d love to be a part of bringing that back. To be honest with you Scott, I’ve hardly worried about the SHL draft coming up at all. Not because it isn’t important or anything, there was just so much happening recently that seemed to be of a bigger need for my attention. While we were still in the playoffs, that's where my mind was. Helping this team in St. Louis in any way I could was all I thought about. After that, my focus moved to WJC after I found out I was on the roster. All that said though, the SHL is exciting and has been lingering on the back of my mind throughout all of it. It's what new dreams are made of after reaching the J’s. I’ve had a couple scouts reach out so far, and they all seem like great places to end up. All varying degrees of success in the recent past, but just like in St. Louis I'm not opposed to doing what I can to help a team out of a rut. Wherever I end up, I’ll give it my all. Thinking you’ll end up somewhere and you don't just put unnecessary disappointment in your mind. Are there places that I could ‘favor’ over others just based on scouting conversations? Sure, but I’m here to play hockey. As long as I’m doing that, I’ll be happy. In relation to the nerves though, I’d say the ones coming into the J’s were higher, not knowing if I’d even be taken. Just having this season under my belt, I know now that I can at least compete at this level, just can’t predict where I’ll end up and at what selection. Doubtful it’ll be as early as in the J’s though, hard to replicate that especially since everyone has more tape out there for scouts to look at. 

S.C: Way to go Toivo, you’ve navigated that question like a professional. Gave us almost nothing while saying quite a bit. The media will have a hayday trying to dissect that and I believe there is nothing there as you mean it when you say you just want to play hockey. Everything will fall where it falls. As always Toivo, it has been a pleasure to have you on the show. Thank you for coming back time and time again. I wish you luck in the WJC, and I do not envy the decisions the SHL GM’s have to make in terms of who to draft where in the first round. Your class is absolutely loaded with talent and each one of you has the potential to be named first overall. Of course I’m biased towards my guests, but I’d say you will be one mighty fine first overall Toivo. That’ll do it for this segment, thank you everyone for tuning in and listening along. Next up after a short break will be discussing my predictions from the preseason and how that translates to the finals. Maine was eliminated early, but the Knights are holding on strong as my favorite to take home the Four Star Cup. We’ll be back after this. 

**As he finishes speaking the audio would cut to a commercial talking about sports betting, just like Toivo’s first time on the show.”